


Croatian beer and fritters

by EWM



Series: Febuwhump (First one ever!!) [9]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Amnesia, Angst, Desi and Jack Dalton, Desi and Riley, Desi and Riley are best friends, Desi supporting Riley, Emotional Whump, FebuWhump2021, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Reveal, Jack Dalton - Freeform, Jack Dalton Returns, Macgyver 5x05, Past Injuries, Riley Davis and Jack Dalton, Riley supporting Desi, Whump, dealing with grief, jack is not dead, the death of Jack Dalton
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:02:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29380347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EWM/pseuds/EWM
Summary: The team returns to Zagreb for a mission and gets a horrible shockThe prompt was "Identity Reveal"Just a tiny caveat, this is more emotional whump at this point, rather than physical whump
Relationships: Angus MacGyver & Desiree "Desi" Nguyen, Jack Dalton & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), Jack Dalton (MacGyver TV 2016) & Riley Davis
Series: Febuwhump (First one ever!!) [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2150052
Comments: 8
Kudos: 17
Collections: febuwhump 2021





	Croatian beer and fritters

Riley stared, her eyes not quite comprehending. He looked very different after six years, his once dark brown hair was now mostly grey and white and there were more lines on his face. It was now long too, a strange look after seeing him with an army buzz cut for so many years. But something about the demeanour even half turned away from her, the gait was very much the same, slightly cocky, yet relaxed. It all screamed Jack Dalton. He was sitting at the bar, chatting to the server. They looked like they were friends; his companion was laughing and Riley felt a strange stab of envy. A man she had spent so much time mourning, missing was now telling some probably dreadful joke to a total stranger who thought he was hilarious. It wasn’t fair! There were times in the past particularly in the months after he died (or his faked his death? Riley was even sure how to describe it now) that she longed for him to be there, to tell her a cruddy joke, to tell her it would be all right and that he was proud of her. She knew wasn’t being rational. But Jack…she kept her memories of Jack in a quiet place in her head because even now so much of it was still too painful. Yet he here was, having the time of his life in some bar thousands of miles away from home. His face was animated and he was gesticulating wildly. Davis stood frozen at the door. She gripped the handle, white knuckling it to try and keep herself on her feet. When they told her to speak to a guy called Jonathan, he was the man, he knew everyone in the town, he could help them. She never even imagined…it was beyond anything.

Desi stood next to her and gripped her hand, her own mind had done a kind of flip when she’d registered Jack. Her first reaction was wanting to puke because she was convinced it was some kind of twisted joke their enemies were playing on them. She could feel Riley shaking and put her other hand on her shoulder to keep her steady. Jack couldn’t be alive after all this time? It had to be some kind of look-a-like, it had to be surely? Yet he was so…so like him. Her own memories of Jack came at her in a wave, seeing him at a bar trying to get her to lighten up when she was still a recruit, teaching her tactics at the army base. Jack telling some elaborate story to an absolutely captive audience of trainees. It was all so vivid, it could have happened yesterday rather than over a decade ago. Could he have truly been here all this time? Eventually Jack registered the two of them staring at him from the door. He turned towards them and Desi saw the huge scar across his left cheek. It ran all the way up to his hair line, A memento from that long ago explosion from Kovacs maybe?

Dalton assessed the to two women gawping at him. He wasn’t in the mood for trouble, it was one of his few days off and he had a lot on his mind. He’d only come to Horvat’s to have a drink and a chat. These two, whoever they were, looked out of towners which was a bit of a bore (they tended to be know it alls), but one of the women looked like she was about to faint

“You okay there Miss? Is there something I can help you to gals with?” he said moving towards them

“ I I...” Riley choked out

“It’s okay. Why don’t you come and sit down? This bar ain’t so bad. We’re not as mean we look”

Desi recovered fast and managed to produce a smile.

“Thank you. If me and my friend could get a glass of water, that’d be great.” She responded, shifting and holding out her hand. She kept her other firmly on a still shaking Riley gently guiding her forward

“No problem. Name’s Jonathan. I’m guessing you two aren’t from around here.”

“That’d be right. We’re actually looking for you. We were hoping we could talk to you?”

“And you are ?”

“Is there somewhere we could talk to in private?”

Jack wandered back to his friend at the bar and much to Desi’s amazement started speaking in fluent Croatian (albeit with a heavy Texas drawl). She wasn’t shocked really, Dalton always had a gift for languages, she had memories of her teaching him bits of Vietnamese when they first met each other. But he’d always kept his knack well hidden, it was just so bizarre hearing him up close and personal after all this time.

By this point Riley had recovered her composure. Desi turned to her and murmured quietly

“You good?”

“Not really!”

“At least you can string a sentence together now.”

Riley glared

“Is he? I mean is that actually Jack?”

“I don’t know. But he’s the man we’re here to see.”

Jack at this point came back and did his best to be civil and welcoming. These two were weird even for out-of-towners, but their peculiar behaviour had piqued his interest, so he was willing to play along for a while at least for now. Horvat was nice and trusted Jonathan, he’d also said that he could kick them out if they started causing any trouble.

“My friend has said we can use his back room to chat. You okay now Miss?” Jack said eyeing Riley

“Yes I am, sorry. You reminded me of someone I used to know”

“I hope it was a good reminder, I’d hate to think I reminded you of some who was a dick. That was quite some reaction you gave me when you came in.”

“Oh no, all good. You said your name was Jonathan right, I’m Riley” (temporarily forgetting the whole secret spy mission they were on)

“Riley, that’s a lovely name, now shall we go in the back and talk?”

**Author's Note:**

> I was kind of intrigued by the idea of who Jack would be if his experiences (both good and bad) were wiped away - what do you think? 
> 
> The writing of both Desi and Riley has also been pretty poor in the series at certain points, so this is my attempt to try and fix that. Both women are super interesting characters so they need some more focus on them. This in my head is not just about finding Jack but exploring their friendship or at least hopefully if I continue on. 
> 
> Feedback always welcome :D


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